Overview
- Lynette Hooker, 55, vanished while returning to her sailboat on a dinghy in the Sea of Abaco on April 4 after her husband, Brian Hooker, said she fell overboard.
- Late-May forensic extractions of GPS and other electronic data showed location traces that investigators say contradict the route Brian Hooker described to authorities and pointed to parts of the sea not previously searched.
- The U.S. Coast Guard seized the couple’s U.S.-flagged sailboat Soulmate after it left the Bahamas and has docked and begun forensic processing of the vessel for digital devices and physical evidence.
- Bahamian authorities granted permission for U.S. dive teams to search the newly identified spots in the Sea of Abaco, the FBI is processing evidence at its lab and Lynette’s daughter has provided DNA to help investigators.
- Brian Hooker was held by Bahamian authorities in April and later released without charges; he remains a person of interest who denies wrongdoing while investigators continue searches and forensic work that could yield new evidence.